WATCH: Full Ceremony for Grand Opening of U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

A new road sign and flags are placed at the road leading to the U.S. consulate in the Jewish neighborhood of Arnona on the East-West Jerusalem line in Jerusalem, May 8, 2018.

The grand opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem took place on Monday, May 14th.

Watch the full video of the ceremony below.

Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump declared Monday a “great day” for Israel as his top aides celebrated the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, led the U.S. delegation with a single message: Only Trump had the courage to act on what America has wanted for a long time.

“While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it,” Kushner said.

The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital. Protests roiled the Gaza border, resulting in at least 37 Palestinians killed, officials said.

In a video address that aided at the ceremony’s opening, Trump said the U.S. still remains “fully committed” to pursing a Mideast peace deal. Trump’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, reiterated that goal in a statement calling for “lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”

But critics of the move, including some European officials, say the U.S. decision will only serve to exacerbate tensions and make it more difficult for the U.S. to offer itself as a fair broker of peace.

White House officials have rejected this complaint.

“As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution,” said Kushner, who is Trump’s chief Mideast adviser.

Earlier that morning on Twitter, Trump urged people to watch the ceremony on television and declaring the day “A great day for Israel!” As the ceremony began, he wrote: “Big day for Israel. Congratulations!”

Likewise, Trump’s aides also made no direct reference to the climbing death toll. In a Fox News interview, Mnuchin repeatedly referenced Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said Trump should be praised for “taking action” to keep Americans and people in the Middle East safe.

“The president is making difficult decisions because they are what he believes are the right long term decisions and not just kicking the can down the road,” Mnuchin said.

Mnuchin also said “it’s not coincidental” that the embassy move coincided with Trump’s announcement that he planned to abandon the Iran nuclear deal.

Also on hand were Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Dean Heller of Nevada and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

The embassy celebration was widely considered a snub by the Palestinians. Roughly 800 guests were expected to attend. U.S. officials said last week that Trump’s delegation was not planning on meeting Palestinian officials during their visit. The Trump administration in recent months also has slashed U.S. aid to the Palestinians and programs that support them.

Trump’s policy is a sharp departure from past U.S. administrations, which have tried to position America as a neutral party ready to broker a peace deal.

“Of all the things President Trump could have done, doing this (embassy move) is the strongest signal he could send to the Israeli people,” South Carolina’s Graham said.

–The Associated Press

Our previous reporting follows:

On Monday, May 14th, the United States Embassy in Israel will move to Jerusalem, the official capital of the Jewish state. The event happens seventy years to the day after President Harry Truman, in 1948, made the U.S. the first nation to recognize the sovereignty of modern Israel.

President Trump campaigned on the promise of establishing the embassy there, despite warnings from experts and advisers that the event would spark another bloody intifada. America’s embassy in Israel has been situated in Tel Aviv to prevent another such uprising from Palestinians who desire Jerusalem for the capital of a future state.

According to Israeli law passed in 1980, “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel… the seat of the President of the State, the Knesset, the Government and the Supreme Court.”

The event on Monday will be historic. According to ABC News:

Hundreds of guests are invited for the official opening. U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan will speak. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump will also be attending the ceremony.

Sixty-five journalists from the United States, 41 from the U.K. and more than 60 from the European Union have already arrived in the past week alone to cover the event, according to Israel’s Government Press Office, and more are expected to arrive before the inaugural opening.

Meanwhile, Israel will also celebrate 70 years as an independent state.

U.S. officials from Tel Aviv will move into a U.S. consulate building in Jerusalem which will serve as the embassy until a new building can be built, a process expected to take up to ten years.